Kardashian Tuesday Night Fireworks Party Frightens L.A. Residents

Getty Images27 Aug 2015

Santa Monica and Marina del Rey residents were awakened in the middle of the night Tuesday by a raucous fireworks show thrown by Khloe Kardashian in honor of her boyfriend James Harden’s birthday party – and it’s not clear that the reality TV starlet secured the proper permits, or even needed any, for the bash.

The fireworks display began at 11:59 p.m. on Tuesday night and lasted for about 15 minutes, according to TMZ. The fireworks were reportedly launched from a boat that was more than 100 feet outside the breakwater off of Marina del Rey.

The distance is significant because two separate law enforcement outfits are apparently accusing each other of failing to deal with hundreds of 911 calls that flooded in after the fireworks went off. TMZ reports that the L.A. County Sheriff’s Office and the Coast Guard each claim the other was responsible for dealing with angry residents.

The Coast Guard reportedly sent an email to the Sheriff’s Department informing them that the party would be happening and that the Kardashians did not need to secure a permit to set off the fireworks. But the Sheriff’s Department says that because the boat was more than 100 feet off of the coast, the Coast Guard should have been the “primary enforcement agency.”

Breitbart California editor Joel Pollak was among those woken up by the ruckus in the middle of the night.

Someone either just set fire to a fireworks warehouse, or a ferocious gun battle has broken out in West L.A.

“I was stunned by this booming sound,” Feldman told the Los Angeles Times. “I had no idea what it was. The dog went into what I thought was a cardiac arrest.”

Meanwhile, local officials have vowed to look into whether proper protocols were followed. L.A. County Supervisor Don Knabe is reportedly hopping mad that the Sheriff’s Department didn’t shut the event down, even though the agency apparently has boats that could have reached the floating party relatively easily.

L.A. City Councilman Mike Bonin told the Times that the party was “ridiculous” and “rude,” and that frightened residents initially didn’t know they were woken up by fireworks.

“Folks were scared, and they then went from scared to angry,” Bonin told the paper. “This was just a really disrespectful and insensitive thing to do.”